4-7-11 - "Never Let You Go" ~ Third Eye Blind

Here's another one from several years back... Third Eye Blind had a string of hits in the late 90s, and this might be the poppiest of them all, but it's good in its own right.  Just a great one for the first cookout / fire of the year, on a cool spring night looking toward the summer, and with a little bit of meaning too if you pay attention to the lyrics...


(also a pretty ridiculous video, but fun!)

"But I still feel you pulsing like sonar from the days in the waves..."

4-6-11 - "Wonderwall" ~ Oasis

So I have some Finnish houseguests tonight.  One is studying for a semester in Ontario, and the other came over for a few weeks to visit, and they decided to drive down to Pittsburgh because they heard how awesome it is.  When they got to my house this afternoon, they were getting settled and one of them wandered into our music room and picked up my guitar, and started playing this song.  I haven't listened to Oasis in a while, but this song (and the album) is definitely good stuff.  It was half a lifetime ago - heck, I was 11 when this came out - but it's still great.

"Back beat, the word is on the street
that the fire in your heart is out;
I'm sure you've heard it all before,
but you never really had a doubt..."

4-5-11 - "Kylie" ~ William Fitzsimmons

Saw an awesome show tonight, William Fitzsimmons with Slow Runner at Brillobox (a sweet little venue in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh).  Billy Fitz is from the area, so this was a bit of a homecoming show for him... he made a few jokes about kicking his parents out... all in fun, of course.

It was a late show, and I'm super tired, so I was going to just post Song of the Sparrow (the first of his songs that I heard, and possibly still my favorite), but then I remembered I already did.  So, here's another good 'un.  It's actually a bit of a departure from the majority of his work, as this one features a bit of reverb and some looping, but it's just as beautiful as some of his less produced work, and just as meaningful...

"Her body was found on a Sunday

Her spirit found rest, her heartbeat unturned"

4-4-11 - "Like Blood Like Honey" ~ Holly Brook

This one is just a girl and her guitar, and it can hit you hard if you let it.  There are lots of songs about love, and they cover a plethora of aspects of it.  This one deals with the power of love, the beauty of it when we give it, and the chaos it can create when coupled with the fallibility of our human nature.  Life's greatest joys come from love, and life's greatest sorrows as well...


"Like Blood Like Honey"


"Sometimes it's easier to let yourself drown..."

4-3-11 - "C.S. Lewis Song" ~ Brooke Fraser

I'd heard of Brooke Fraser before, but never really heard her music until something my brother said today got me to look it up.  She's got some talent, that's for sure.  This song hit me hardest - C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors, and was one of the great thinkers of the 20th century.  I kind of wish Fraser had come up with a better name for the song, but other than that, it's gold.  The first verse is almost a verbatim Lewis quote, and it sets up the entire song's existential pondering.  If you listen and think, maybe you'll have an epiphany... or maybe you'll just dig the music.

"Am I lost, or just less found,
on the straight or on the roundabout of the wrong way?
is this a soul that stirs in me?
is it breaking free, wanting to come alive?
'cause my comfort would prefer for me to be numb,
and avoid the impending birth of who I was born to become..."

4-2-11 - "The Girl" ~ City And Colour

Just a simple little love song for you tonight...

"And when you cry, a piece of my heart dies,
knowing that I may have been the cause;
if you were to leave, fulfill someone else's dreams,
I think I might totally be lost..."

4-1-11 - "Keep Yourself Warm" ~ Frightened Rabbit

This was the first song I heard by Frightened Rabbit, and it reeled me in quick.  One of many great songs I've discovered through the TV show "Chuck", it was used in a critical scene that it fit perfectly, and helped set up the last big story arc of that season.  It's really not all that complex musically, just a few chords, but they're well-organized and it builds on itself and the emotional lyrics bring it to a climax that's worth the ride.


The song's meaning is pretty clear; it's a guy realizing that chasing after casual sex is a hollow and empty pursuit, which ultimately leaves him unfulfilled and regretful.  Within the context of the album (which is full of songs about a nasty break-up), it can be inferred that he's gone a little wild trying to heal (or simply mask) the pain of his broken heart by sleeping with any willing partner he can find at the club.  However, it's not helping, and in fact just makes him feel worse... be forewarned, he doesn't use euphemisms here, so if you have virgin ears maybe this one's not for you... I think the use of the explicit term makes the song all the more powerful, but I realize not everyone wants to hear that.  At any rate, here you go:

"Can you see in the dark?
can you see the look on your face?
the flashing white light's been turned off,
you don't know know who's in your bed..."